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“But everything isn’t possible, is it?” Ruby asked. “Maybe it never was. Perhaps we were kidding ourselves all along, and this is all that life was ever supposed to be—one long march of expectations and meaningless social responsibilities.”
“We can still have adventures, darling.” He gave her a small smile that barely lit his face before he grew serious again. “You know I’ve always loved you.”
“Like a sister,” she said dryly.
He wouldn’t quite meet her eyes.
“Like a sister, Theo?” Ruby frowned at him, confused at the way his cheeks had gone pink. “Isn’t that what you’ve always said?”
He took her hand in his then, but he didn’t answer her question. “You’re my best friend in all the world, Ruby. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you. Be my bride. Walk away now. Whatever you want, I’ll stand beside you and weather whatever storms may come our way.”
She could leave. She knew in that instant that he was giving her permission to upend their lives and follow a different path. She could jilt this sweet man and return to the Continent to find her freedom. She could become a stranger in her own family, the lost spinster aunt. She might even find happiness.
Before, she likely would have taken the lifeline he’d just tossed her. Even now, if there were any chance at all that Viola could leave the city, that Viola might go with her out into the world, Ruby might have risked all. But if she could not have Viola—and she could not—then she would do whatever she must to make Theo’s life one that he deserved.
Dear Theo. She took his face between her gloved hands.
“Ruby?” His cheeks went pink. “People are watching.”
“Let them.” It wouldn’t be the first time one of her kisses created a stir. She pulled him to her. Softly, she pressed a kiss against his lips. They were warm, and he was so familiar, but she did not feel the fluttering kick of her heartbeat racing as she had when she’d kissed Viola.
“My jilting you is not a possibility,” she told him.
“You’re sure?”
She nodded, blinking away the tears that threatened to fall, and gave him a brave smile. “I’m sorry for what your family is doing to you, but together we will find a way through.”
WHAT LIVES INSIDE
1983—Times Square
Esta’s mind raced as she counted the dark vans on the street outside the hotel. Seven. They completely blocked Forty-Fourth Street. Surrounding them were men and women in the same boxy coats they’d encountered back near Orchard Street—more of the Guard. One spoke into a walkie-talkie while others stood ready near the vans.
It was clear: they’d been tracked somehow. The Order or the Brotherhoods or whoever it was that the Guard now worked for had found them. They didn’t have any more time to plan or consider. They needed to move. Now.
“There are some shoes that should fit you,” she told him, nodding toward the pile of clothing she’d stolen from the luggage room as she gathered Nibsy’s papers, the Book, and the artifacts. “They’ll start searching the rooms soon. We probably don’t have much time.”
As soon as they were clothed and had gathered everything they needed, Esta took Harte’s hand and pulled time slow. Her affinity felt sure and strong, as it had earlier. That, at least, was a relief.
When they slipped out into the hallway, a pair of Guards were frozen with their fists raised to pound on another of the doors. It was only luck that had them starting at the other end of the hall. A bleary-eyed businessman stood in one of the doorways, clad in nothing but boxers and a scowl, watching.
They took the steps down to the lobby, darting past more of the dark-suited Guards. The hotel was crawling with them, and when they reached the lobby, others were stationed at the exits and near the elevators, clearly trying to block any escape. The leader—a man with an extra set of medals across his chest—was speaking with the person behind the desk while the same yellow tiger cat stood silently by.
“They know we’re here. We need to expect anything.”
“Maybe we should go a different way,” Harte said. “Is there a kitchen or—”
“It doesn’t matter,” she told him. “They would have blocked all the exits. At least this way, we have a straight shot to the street. It’s gotta be close to the morning rush hour. We’ll find a crowd and disappear.”
Esta kept hold of time easily enough as they darted past the Guards in the lobby. As she suspected, there were Guards at the front doors as well. Through the glass, she could see more waiting outside.
“Do you think it’s safe?” Harte asked.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” she told him.
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “Then let’s go.”
She gave him a sure nod, and they went for it, bursting through the front doors as though every Guard in the hotel had been chasing them. She’d forgotten it was winter, and the burst of cold once she was through the door felt like a slap. For a second she thought she felt her affinity waver, but she’d barely taken another step before it was fine again. The world stayed frozen in time.
